He could hardly be more different from Jim Davidson, who has been called racist, sexist and homophobic during his controversial career.

Yet the pair struck up an unlikely friendship while appearing on the same bill.

Jim told Joe, 22, to cut out the bad language, while Joe succeeded in censoring the 57 year-old and getting him to remove an offensive word. Joe still lives with his parents, but last year he was named Best Newcomer in the Chortle Awards and is slowly making a name for himself.

He found himself appearing with Davidson at the Devizes Comedy Festival in Wiltshire.

Joe says: “A lot of people advised me not to be seen on the same bill as him, but I’d never seen him live and thought I’d make up my own mind.

“I think he’s a brilliant comedian, though I don’t agree with many of his views.

“I told him he spoiled his act by putting in things that don’t need to be there.

“He uses the word ‘Chink’, which doesn’t add anything to the joke and is racist.

“He listened and took it on board, and later he was doing his act and a joke about ordering prostitutes to his hotel room.

“He said ‘I want a Filipino...’ and was about to say ‘Chink’, when he looked at me and said ‘A person from China’.

“I thought ‘I’m censoring Jim Davidson!’ He said he admired the fact I’d spoken to him rather than complained behind his back.

“But he had advice for me, too. He told me I shouldn’t swear so much!

“I was expecting him to tell me to swear more, but he said ‘You’re too nice for that’. It was amazing to think I slightly offended Jim Davidson.

“His views on race are incredibly misguided but he is very educated about it. He has read the Koran, and at one point told me in detail about the origins of Rastafarianism.

“I never thought I’d be lectured on race by Jim Davidson.”

Last week Joe played a gig at the Royal Albert Hall and next month he appears at the Leicester Comedy Festival.

He says of his act: “I focus on the silly, the minutiae of life and the daft things that people do and say.

“It’s very anecdotal and not confrontational or vulgar. It’s not aggressive at all, it’s very friendly.

“I often ask people in the audience what their favourite cheese is. I tell them that anything less than Gruyère and they’re just not middle-class!

“I like to think of my act as a barrage of charm. It’s certainly not my goal to offend anyone.”